LESSON PLANS

[Pages:140]Teaching Immigration

with the Immigrant Stories Project

LESSON PLANS

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Acknowledgments

The Immigration History Research Center and The Advocates for Human Rights would like to thank the many people who contributed to these lesson plans.

Lead Editor: Madeline Lohman

Contributors: Elizabeth Venditto, Erika Lee, and Saengmany Ratsabout

Design: Emily Farell and Brittany Lynk

Volunteers and Interns: Biftu Bussa, Halimat Alawode, Hannah Mangen, Josefina Abdullah, Kristi Herman Hill, and Meredith Rambo.

Archival Assistance and Photo Permissions: Daniel Necas

A special thank you to the Immigration History Research Center Archives for permitting the reproduction of several archival photos.

The lessons would not have been possible without the generous support of a Joan Aldous Diversity Grant from the University of Minnesota's College of Liberal Arts.

Immigrant Stories is a project of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota. This work has been made possible through generous funding from the Digital Public Library of America Digital Hubs Pilot Project, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About the Immigration History Research Center

Founded in 1965, the University of Minnesota's Immigration History Research Center (IHRC) aims to transform how we understand immigration in the past and present. Along with its partner, the IHRC Archives, it is North America's oldest and largest interdisciplinary research center and archives devoted to preserving and understanding immigrant and refugee life. The IHRC promotes interdisciplinary research on migration, race, and ethnicity in the United States and the world. It connects U.S. immigration history research to contemporary immigrant and refugee communities through its Immigrant Stories project. It advances public dialogue about immigration through its public programming, supports teaching and learning at all levels, and develops archives documenting immigrant and refugee experiences for future generations.

About The Advocates for Human Rights

An independent and nonpartisan nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1983, The Advocates for Human Rights implements international human rights standards to promote civil society and reinforce the rule of law. Envisioning a world in which every person lives with dignity, freedom, justice, equality, and peace, The Advocates investigates and exposes human rights violations; represents people seeking asylum; trains and assists human rights defenders; and uses research, education, and advocacy to engage the public, policymakers, and children in human rights work. Holding Special Consultative Status with the United Nations, The Advocates collaborates with human rights defenders throughout the world to bring information about human rights violations and make recommendations to international human rights mechanisms.

?2017 The Advocates for Human Rights. All rights reserved. Reproduction for educational use permitted. Photo on page 15: ? UN Photo Archival photos: ? Immigration History Research Center Archives. Immigrant Stories Photos: Immigration History Research Center, CC BY-NC 4.0 All maps: Wikimedia Commons

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 3

About the Curriculum

3

About Energy of a Nation

4

About the Immigrant Stories Project

5

Social Studies Standards

6

Advisory on Immigration Status

7

Unit 1: Understanding Immigration

9

Lesson 1: Why Immigrate?

12

Lesson 2: The U.S. Immigration System

20

Lesson 3: Experiences in the U.S.

32

Optional Lessons

33

Optional Lesson 1: Deciding to Immigrate: A History

34

Optional Lesson 2: Waves of Immigration

44

Optional Lesson 3: Waiting in Line Game

50

Optional Lesson 4: Spot the Myths

57

Optional Lesson 5: A History of Xenophobia

61

Unit 2: Refugees and Asylum Seekers

89

Lesson 1: Refugee Basics

92

Lesson 2: The Global Refugee Picture

96

Lesson 3: The Refugee Journey

112

Optional Lessons

114

Optional Lesson 1: Refugee Role Play

115

Optional Lesson 2: Applying for Asylum-hay

121

Unit 3: Youth, Identity, and Immigration

125

Lesson 1: Culture and Identity

128

Lesson 2: Second-Generation Identity

135

Lesson 3: Constructing Identity

137

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INTRODUCTION

About the Lesson Plans

Teaching Immigration with the Immigrant Stories Project contains lessons for grades 8 to adult audiences that help students learn about aspects of United States immigration, past and present, through the personal experiences of immigrants and refugees. The lessons highlight digital stories from the Immigrant Stories collection: brief, original videos made by immigrants and refugees. This curriculum is a partnership between the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota and The Advocates for Human Rights.

Teaching Immigration with the Immigrant Stories Project includes three units:

?? "Unit One: Understanding Immigration" introduces students to why and how individuals and families immigrate. Students will study global push and pull factors and examine individual immigrants' stories to understand how people make decisions in response to these conditions.

?? "Unit Two: Refugees and Asylum Seekers" introduces students to the U.S. refugee and asylum systems. Students will understand these systems through a human rights perspective by comparing the experiences of individual refugees and asylum seekers who have come to the U.S. since World War II.

?? "Unit Three: Youth, Identity, and Immigration" teaches students about the experiences of immigrant youth and immigrants' children. These include explorations of identity, belonging, discrimination, self-expression, and heritage.

Each unit is centered around several digital stories from the Immigrant Stories collection. They are creative and poignant reflections on personal and family immigration experiences. These videos include accounts of families separated and reunited, memories of life in refugee camps, and finding love and pursuing education thousands of miles from home. The videos are generally 3-5 minutes long, so students may watch several in class. Classroom activities also encourage students to consider immigration systems and experiences from individuals' perspectives.

Each unit also incorporates human rights as a framework for understanding immigration. Approaching immigration through the lens of human rights helps to build empathy; encourage critical thinking; examine root causes and long-term solutions; and draw connections between facts, immigrant experiences, and the foundational principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: dignity, justice, equality, freedom, and peace for all people.

Teachers may choose to teach one unit or all three, and Units One and Two have additional optional activities. This curriculum includes lesson plans, classroom activities, worksheets, background summaries, and up-to-date fact sheets for teaching about many aspects of contemporary immigration. PowerPoints explaining complex aspects of the U.S. immigration system are available to download. The curriculum is applicable in a variety of subjects, including social studies, history, geography, English, media studies, and literature.

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INTRODUCTION

About Energy of a Nation

The lesson plans in Teaching Immigration with the Immigrant Stories Project are based on Energy of a Nation: Immigrants in America, 3rd Edition, published by The Advocates for Human Rights in 2012. The lessons have been fully updated and revised, with engaging new content drawn from the rich resources of the Immigrant Stories project.

OF A

ENERGY

NATION

Immigrants in America

Third Edition

The Energy of a Nation curriculum was first created to provide teachers with thoughtful, factual lessons on the complex, and often sensitive, topic of immigration. Originally written in 1997, with a second edition in 2004, online updates in 2006, and the 3rd edition in 2012, the curriculum has been used in diverse communities across the country. Teachers who have used the curriculum say it is "precise and researched thoroughly," praising its "upto-date data." Teachers reported that lessons were engaging and did the important task of helping students dispel popular myths about immigrants.

In addition to recognition from educators, Energy of a Nation was also included in Human Rights Education in the School Systems of Europe, Central Asia and North America: A Compendium of Good Practice, compiled by the OSCE/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Council of Europe, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Office.

Available online, the full curriculum offers additional lessons and resources for educators, including: yy The root causes of undocumented immigration; yy The complex realities of removal through the immigration courts; yy Other countries' experience with, and response to, immigration; yy Xenophobia and public discourse around immigration; yy Local and national U.S. policy considerations; and yy Service-learning opportunities to create a welcoming school and community.

The curriculum is filled with engaging, student-centered activities that follow best practices for human rights education (HRE). Information is presented through easy-to-read charts, tables, graphs, maps, images, Venn diagrams, and scripts. Students learn by writing from the perspective of an immigrant; exploring their own migration history; deciding under what conditions they might risk undocumented status; holding mock immigration court; drawing a picture to represent an immigration policy; rehearsing a deliberative dialogue about immigration; constructing a gallery of xenophobia over the centuries; and creating a service-learning project for their classroom or school.

Download the curriculum at: .

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INTRODUCTION

About the Immigrant Stories Project

Immigrant Stories is a digital storytelling and archiving project run by the University of Minnesota's Immigration History Research Center (IHRC). Founded in 1965, the IHRC and its partner, the IHRC Archives, are North America's oldest and largest interdisciplinary research center and archive of immigrant and refugee life. Since 2013 Immigrant Stories has collected, shared, and preserved the experiences of contemporary immigrants and refugees.

A digital story is an original 3-5 minute video that tells a personal story. Participants write their own story, record an audio voiceover, and add images and sound (including personal photos, family documents, home videos, and original music) to create a brief video. To view the entire Immigrant Stories collection, visit: .

The project defines "immigrant" broadly. There is no one way to tell an immigrant story because no single story represents all immigrants and their histories. The collection contains stories from firstgeneration immigrants and refugees ? that is, people born outside the country where they currently reside ? as well as stories created by their children and grandchildren. Immigrant Stories have been created by international students, transnational adoptees, and people who might not feel that their experiences fit a particular (or just one) category.

The IHRC believes these personal narratives are important primary sources for teaching and research, both now and for future generations. Therefore, all videos in the Immigrant Stories collection will be professionally preserved in the IHRC Archives.

Participate in Immigrant Stories

Immigrant Stories provides free tools, resources, and curriculum so your students can make their own videos and participate in the project.

The Website: Students can create their digital stories entirely within the Immigrant Stories website, . Students only need access to a computer and the Internet to tell a personal or family immigration story. Students create their story in a series of steps, including writing a story, recording their voiceover, and editing a video. The website provides writing prompts, tutorial videos, access to video editing tools, and an optional, click-through donation form. The website is available in several languages, including Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic.

The IHRC encourages ? but never requires ? students to add their stories to the Immigrant Stories collection, but they must be at least 18 years old, or 15-17 with a parent or guardian's permission.

Curriculum: Immigrant Stories provides additional curricula so students can make a digital story as an in-class project. Students use the website and turn in a series of assignments, culminating in their final video. Each packet contains lesson plans, a schedule of assignments, a grading rubric, student worksheets, and simple technical instructions. Download the curricula for high schools, colleges, ELL programs, and workshops here: .

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INTRODUCTION

Social Studies Standards

These lessons connect with key social studies content standards for middle and high school. The list below shows how the lessons and activities relate to different concepts frequently found in social studies standards for middle and high school.

General theme Sample standard Relevant lessons

General theme Sample standard Relevant lessons

General theme Sample standard Relevant lessons General theme Sample standard Relevant lessons

General theme Sample standard Relevant lessons

U.S. immigration - historical Trace the role of migration and immigration of people in the development of the United States. Unit 2 Lesson 2, The Global Refugee Picture, page 96 Unit 3 Lesson 2, Second-Generation Identity, page 135 Unit 1 Optional Lesson 1, Deciding to Immigrate: A History, page 34 Unit 1 Optional Lesson 2, Waves of Immigration, page 44 Unit 1 Optional Lesson 5, A History of Xenophobia, page 61 U.S. immigration - contemporary Describe the process by which immigrants become U.S. citizens. Unit 1 Lesson 1, Why Immigrate?, page 12 Unit 1 Lesson 2, The U.S. Immigration System, page 20 Unit 1 Lesson 3, Experiences in the U.S., page 32 Unit 2 Lesson 1, Refugee Basics, page 92 Unit 2 Lesson 3, The Refugee Journey, page 112 Unit 1 Optional Lesson 3, Waiting in Line Game, page 50 Unit 1 Optional Lesson 4, Spot the Myths, page 57 Unit 2 Optional Lesson 2, Applying for Asylum-hay, page 121 Mapping the movement of people Analyze the spatial organizations of people, places and environment in relation to changes in society. Unit 2 Lesson 2, The Global Refugee Picture, page 96 Conflict and human migration How has conflict over space and resources influenced human migration? Unit 1 Lesson 1, Why Immigrate?, page 12 Unit 2 Lesson 1, Refugee Basics, page 92 Unit 2 Lesson 2, The Global Refugee Picture, page 96 Unit 2 Lesson 3, The Refugee Journey, page 112 Unit 2 Optional Lesson 1, Refugee Role Play, page 115 Culture and cultural diffusion Analyze how cultural diffusion is influenced by factors such as trade, migration, immigration and conflict. Unit 3 Lesson 1, Culture and Identity, page 128 Unit 3 Lesson 2, Second-Generation Identity, page 135 Unit 3 Lesson 3, Constructing Identity, page 137

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